A student attacked by shamed soccer bad boy Craig Bellamy today claimed it was disgusting the Toon star walked free with a caution.

Charlotte Smith, 21, said Bellamy hit and then kicked her on the ground after throwing her out of a car.

She told friends: "He should have been taken to court for this.

"I got in the back with Bellamy and Quinn and another friend was sitting on Carl Cort's knee in the front while we dropped Quinn off.

"Bellamy was drunk and was getting annoyed at the cramped conditions in the back and when we stopped he started calling me names and demanded that I get out of the vehicle.

"When I told him where to get off he hit me across the face and pushed me out, then kicked me as I lay on the floor.

"I could not believe his behaviour."

Charlotte and a group of friends met Bellamy and team-mates Carl Cort and Wayne Quinn at Sea night club on the Quayside and they were offered a lift home by Kieron Dyer in his #50,000 Mercedes. The attack happened just yards from Quinn's plush home on the Quayside.

She was left with bruises to her body but did not need hospital treatment. Bellamy was grilled by police for 90 minutes on Thursday night before being let off with a caution.

A close family friend said: "She is very softly spoken, very slim and attractive with blue eyes and blond hair and I would imagine she would attract these footballers like a magnet.

"It is an utter disgrace that he can walk away and very convenient for the club.

"Her dad can get tickets for Newcastle matches and she has seen them play."

Despite his shocking antics just weeks ago Bellamy claimed he is a family man whose two kids help keep his feet on the ground.

The Toon star said it was his stable home life that had helped his football career. He is married to wife Claire and has two young children.

Bellamy said: "The family have been the best thing that has happened to me. It is a stable life and has had a major effect on my football career.

"There is a terrific amount of intensity in the game today and family life is a great leveller.

"Whether we have won or lost, the kids don't know any different and it is good to walk through and see them."

He also landed himself in hot water when he was one of the Gang Of Four sent home from a sunshine break to Spain after missing an official diner for Sir John Hall.

And one friend of the star from Cardiff said: "His family is important to him and to be honest he is not the sort of lad you would expect to see doing this.

"This is the second time he has got himself in trouble since his move to Newcastle. He always seemed a quiet sensible lad but he will really have to watch himself now."

Former Toon star Keith Gillespie today said it was hard for footballers to avoid the temptation of Newcastle's nightlife.

Gillespie who arrived at Newcastle in 1995 developed a gambling habit and once blew #60,000 in an afternoon and was also involved in a fight with skipper Alan Shearer.

He said: "I am not the first player it has happened to up there and I won't be the last.

"It is a great city and a great place for football but you just have to learn to adjust in some ways. You can't get away from it and you have to learn to cope."

It is understood Cort, Quinn and Bellamy had been out for a few drinks and Dyer had returned from Suffolk, where he had been visiting his family, to pick them up.

He was said to have acted as the "peace maker" during the incident and had not been drinking.

Cort and some of the players had earlier chatted with the women in the club.

The students had left in the early hours and were waiting in a taxi queue when Dyer's car pulled up and they got in.

Two of the girls sat in the back seat with two players, and one girl sat on Cort's knee on the front seat while Dyer drove off.

The women checked pictures on the United internet website at home after the alleged assault to help them identify the players before they went to the police station to report the incident.

Controversial midfielder Dyer, 22, who has hit the headlines for a series of off-the-field incidents in his private life, was said to have "acted like a gentleman".

Dyer and Cort were questioned as witnesses at St James's Park last night by city centre detectives. They had arranged with club officials to speak to the players.

The striker came out of his luxury home in Gosforth, Newcastle, yesterday surrounded by club minder.

The #6 million striker Bellamy faces disciplinary action from the club after being cautioned by police for common assault.

Despite his off the field antics Bellamy is due to be in the side to face Southampton today.

NUFC chairman Freddie Shepherd said: "We're aware of the allegations which have been made against certain of our players and shall be conducting our own internal investigation immediately. At present the club has nothing further to say on the matter."

United manager Bobby Robson was tight-lipped about the incident at a St James's Park press conference yesterday but said an internal investigation would be held.

Council house to mansion

Craig Bellamy left school with no qualifications and one dream - to become a professional footballer.

He grew up in a council house in the rough Trowbridge area of Cardiff.

But after hitting the big time with Newcastle Bellamy, wife Claire and two kids live in a plush detached mews house in an executive compound owned by Freddie Shepherd.

He owns a #50,000 silver Jaguar XK8 convertible and a #62,000 BMW 4X4 with television screens in the rear.

Craig joined Norwich on a YTS and was so homesick the club would allow him to go home one week in every six.

He said: "I am a Cardiff lad just living out every kid's dream of playing professional football for a living.

"My drive in life was to play professional football I never thought about the standard of life that I could get for it.

"I could have been in a flat above a shop with two kids but it has not worked out like that."

The lightning fast #6 million Welshman has been a massive hit on the field scoring 14 goals and forming a successful partnership with Alan Shearer.

Off the field Bellamy hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when he was one of the Gang of Four El Raisers sent home in disgrace from Spain.

Bellamy along with England international Kieron Dyer and his Under-21 colleagues Carl Cort and Andy Griffin were sent home from the sunshine break.

But Bellamy showed his caring side when he struck up a remarkable friendship with tragic Toon fan Indie Singh who died in December.

A mixed blessing

Top psychologist George Erdos says players' naturally competitive instincts combined with mind-boggling wages is a recipe for disaster.

The head of psychology at Newcastle University says stars such as Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer and Craig Bellamy often find it difficult to come to terms with their new found fame.

He said: "They are still kids, young people and they are thrust into this competitive sport with the eyes of the world on them.

"It's stressful and some of them just don't know how to cope. There are tremendous pressures not knowing what the future holds.

"Sometimes it can be that fame has gone to their heads and they really believe they can walk on water. They convince themselves they can act as they want, push other people about and break social conventions just because they are paid to kick a football.

"In order to get to the top level they need to be full of adrenaline and full of testosterone. They are highly tuned competitive machines and there are consequences for their psychological makeup. Every week they go out for 90 minutes with their minds geared up for sole purpose of winning.

"As a result they are always on the top level of arousal and this leads to stress. They are always on the edge and if they don't know how to behave properly the slightest irritation will push them over the edge.

"Some of them are still very young and are not very good at self control. They are full of hormones, and while their aggressive behaviour is useful on the pitch if it's not channelled into anything off the pitch, because they have no interests except football, that's when there could be problems.

"And this is aggravated if alcohol is involved. Alcohol drunk in large quantities is a depressant while in moderate amounts it is a social inhibitor. If you have a tendency to be aggressive, then the alcohol acts as a facilitator."

Victor Jupp, principal lecturer of sociology who specialises in crime in sport at Northumbria University, said: "Maybe they do not have a sense or responsibility to the club and towards their profession.

"Newcastle United as a club do a lot of work with the local community, and towards developing a sense of social responsibility. It's disappointing that some of the footballers themselves do not recognise the power they have as role models."